tivo

Popular DVR service TiVo has just announced a new app for the iPad, allowing users to search, browse, and share your favorite entertainment experiences. The app is meant to work in conjunction with your TiVo, allowing users to control and share information while watching your favorite shows.

The HD user interface is meant to look similar to your TiVo, and controls both TV and Internet video. The app features simple gesture-based control, and allows users to schedule one-time or multiple recordings, search for shows, movies, and actors across Netflix, Amazon Video, and On Demand, and share comments with friends through Facebook and Twitter. You can even launch a recorded show, live TV or streaming video through the iPad app.

The new TiVo app will be available in the coming weeks through the iTunes store.

Apple's line of Mac Pros seems to be in short supply, which leaves industry analysts to believe that a refresh is coming up soon. But now the signature iMac, 27-inch LED cinema display, and even the Apple TV are joining the ranks in the rumor mill.

According to one plugged-in insider, Apple may be introducing a newly upgraded Mac Pro, a speedier iMac, and a new 16:9 27-inch cinema display tomorrow. Not only that, but there's also some new insights on the next Apple TV and the upcoming version of iLife. Find out these details when you read more.

• Need a fridge magnet? There's an app for that — Chip Chick
• The bacon rocket (yes, bacon rocket) is go for launch — Urlesque
• Watch TiVo recordings from anywhere in your house — Dvice
• The $1,000 home recording studio — Unplggd
• Typing geeks face off at the Ultimate Typing Championship — PopCandy
• German couple creates Super Mario room (spoiler: it's awesome) — Switched
• Paper calendar tears off pages automatically — Gizmodo

TiVo introduced its newest lineup today in NYC: the Premiere ($300) and Premiere XL ($400) boxes, which will both be available in early April for your media consuming needs. One of the main differences between TiVo's Series 3 boxes and these new Series 4 units is the shiny new HD flash interface (Flash? Isn't that going the way of the pager?), which utilizes larger HD screens to bring you all kinds of media in one place: cable TV, movies, music, and web.

The new boxes are smaller than previous models but aren't lacking in power — the Premiere will come stocked with a 320GB hard drive capable of up to 45 hours of HD recording, while the Premiere XL will host 1TB of storage and up to 150 hours of recording time. Alongside the new boxes, TiVo also released a QWERTY Bluetooth keyboard remote for easy button mashing.

To hear more about the TiVo Premiere and Premiere XL, just read more

• Lego Big Mac Combo meal is better for your health than the real thing — Oh Gizmo!
• True Lore social network brings out your inner werewolf — Switched
• Create your own Google Map envelopes — Unplggd
• Battlestar Galactica fans building a working Raider — Dvice
• TiVo's got something up its sleeve, and it looks like it's gonna be big — Gizmodo
• Porsche is revving up the 911 hybrid — Crave

Although I think you should get a TiVo for more than just to watch the tube, there are some minor things I wish I could change about the player. For example, the status bar on the bottom of the screen — it takes forever to disappear! Now some of you may think I'm being overly dramatic, but really, it takes a while, no?

So when you can't take it anymore, just enter this sequence on your remote: Select, Play, Select, Pause, Select, which should take care of your lagging status bar for good.

• BlackBerry users with a TiVo box can now record their favorite shows remotely with the TiVo app — The Boy Genius Report
• Borders will be rolling out free WiFi in 500 store locations across the country — CrunchGear
• Wired chats with Felicia Day about the Guild and what it's like to be a geek in Hollywood — Wired
• A BlackBerry desktop manager for Macs is said to be coming out on Oct. 2 — Engadget
• Zipcar releases a pretty sweet iPhone app that will even unlock your car for you — USA Today
• The Motorola Cliq android handset is coming to stores on Nov. 2 and will cost $200 — Gizmodo
• It's giveaway and game time on GeekSugar! Be sure to log in and play our Best Video Game Ever bracket! — GeekSugar

TV networks, don't hate me — but I barely ever watch commercials. This is probably because my DVR is always full, so whenever I do watch a show, I feel the need to quickly get through it as fast as possible so I can delete it and move on to the next one!

A majority of you said that you occasionally watch commercials even with a DVR, but did you know that nearly all shows that won Emmys this year are more likely to have their commercials skipped over? That's right, according to the New York Times, 30 Rock was the only exception among the group (which was blamed on NBC's creative ad placements).

Why does this happen? Well, Todd Juenger, TiVo's vice president for research and measurement, seems to think that people don't want to
sit through commercials of hit shows they are really wrapped up in. . . which totally makes sense.

Where do you stand on this? Do you fast-forward through commercials during shows that you are completely sucked into? And if you don't have a DVR — but hate commercials — here's how you can skip over ads using a standard remote.

Photo courtesy of NBC